February 18, 2024

In a state filled with hateful people in office, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stands out. The securities fraud chapter of his bio includes his repeated efforts to delay trial after he was indicted, in 2015, with charges that could land him in jail for 99 years.

Paxton has repeatedly delayed the trial. Then he tried to get the indictments thrown out because – wait for it – he was denied the right to a speedy trial. Fortunately, the judge didn’t buy that load of BS and kept the April 15 trial date previously set, The Texas Tribune reported.

The Tribune explains the charges:

He is accused of enticing investors in a McKinney-based technology firm without disclosing he had received company stock, and for steering clients to a friend’s investment advising business without registering with the state. Paxton faces two first-degree felony securities fraud charges, which each carry five to 99 years in prison, and one third-degree felony.

These are far from Paxton’s only allegations of criminality and corruption:

Paxton has also encountered other corruption allegations. In addition to these fraud indictments, he was impeached last year for allegedly swapping political favors with a campaign donor but beat the charges. His agency still faces a whistleblower lawsuit brought by the individuals whose allegations prompted his impeachment, and Paxton is also being sued over his role challenging the 2020 presidential election results.

I believe there is still a federal investigation related to the whistleblower allegations.

You’d think that voters would have tossed out such a guy instead of keeping him as the top law enforcement officer of the state. But Paxton won his third term in 2022.

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